New vaccines will be able to prevent premature births and complications

Published on 27/09/2012 03:55

New vaccines that prevent premature birth and pregnancy complications have come a 
step closer after scientists identified cells that stop a pregnant woman’s body rejecting her own foetus.

New vaccines that prevent premature birth and pregnancy complications have come a 
step closer after scientists identified cells that stop a pregnant woman’s body rejecting her own foetus.

Activating the same immune system cells with a vaccine 
may in future protect against premature birth and complications such as pre-eclampsia, the researchers say.

The findings may also lead to vaccines against increasingly common auto-immune diseases such as insulin-dependent, or type 1, diabetes where the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissues.

Immune cells are generally thought to defend the body by attacking foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses.

But the immune system 
T-cells in the new study do the opposite. They suppress the 
immune system to stop a 
pregnant woman’s body recognising foetal tissue as foreign and attacking it.

And the CD4 T-cells are retained after delivery to provide a swift protective response if the woman becomes pregnant again.

It was already known that successful pregnancy requires the ability to tolerate foreign proteins inherited from an unborn baby’s father.

The research is reported in the latest issue of the journal 
Nature.

Lead researcher Dr Sing Sing Way, from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in the United States, said the research showed that CD4 cells can form an “immunological memory”.

“These memory features illustrate why complications become reduced in subsequent pregnancy, but can also be broadly applied to new ways to better control the balance between immune stimulation and suppression for preventing auto-immune diseases.

“Knowing this, we can design vaccines that specifically target immune-suppressive T-cells.

“A vaccine that targets the expansion and retention of 
immune-suppressive cells would allow selective silencing of 
undesired responses and prevent them from attacking the body.”

Premature births can cause a range of health complications, including breathing difficulties, that may need treatment in 
intensive care units.

There is also a risk of longer-term disabilities.

Although the introduction of the smoking ban in public places in Scotland has brought down premature births by 10 per cent, they are a major cause of health problems in young infants.

The researchers believe that their findings could also be used in the search for vaccines 
against diseases which are now becoming more common in Scotland.

Auto-immune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, are ones where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissue or harmless substances that enter the body.

Diabetes UK says nearly 50,000 Scots have diabetes but don’t know it, and a further 
half a million are thought to have pre-diabetes, a condition making them more prone to 
developing the disease.

Most of the cases are believed to be type 2 diabetes, which 
is usually developed later in 
life as a result of lifestyle factors such as poor diet and lack of 
exercise.